6 people die as migrant boat sinks in the English Channel

  

Six people died after a boat carrying migrants sank in the English Channel, authorities say, while two people could still be missing.

According to testimonies of survivors, 65 or 66 people were on board the boat which sank, local French authorities said. They added that more than 20 people were taken to Dover by British authorities.

Local mayor Franck Dhersin tweeted an image of some of the migrants who had been rescued aboard a rescue boat covered with gold aluminum blankets.

“Here is another catastrophe off the coast of Calais/Wissant with several drowned migrants. One day, we will have to stop simply recording the number of deaths in the Channel and the Mediterranean,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

All six people who drowned were Afghan men, according to Peymana Assad, a local councilor in the London Borough of Harrow.

“Afghans are running from Afghanistan because of the Taliban. They are on small boats because the UK government won’t open safe and legal routes for Afghans like they have for Ukrainians. Don’t even know what to say anymore,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.